Love You Better

Better Love, Book 1

By: Brit Benson

Narrated by: Joe Arden, Kelli Tager

Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

Kelley Pierce is my person.

He has been since the 9th grade.

He gets me like no one else does.

My quirks. My love of pros/cons lists.

My need to have everything under control.

He accepts me just as I am, because he is the perfect...friend.

My best friend.

But Kelley is also totally gorgeous.

And confident. And tempting.

None of that matters, though.

Best friends don't care about those things.

Or at least...I never used to.

One chemistry-filled moment has the power to change everything, and soon old emotions I've ignored and memories I've tried to forget come crashing back.

Now, he's making me feel things.

Now, he's making me want to be a little reckless.

To let go when I should be holding on tight.

I have goals for my future.

I have an image to maintain.

I have an airtight plan and no room for distraction.

I haven't prepared for falling in love.

But after that kiss....

Who is this man in front of me, and what has he done with my best friend?

Love You Better is a sweet and steamy standalone, best friends to lovers, second chance romance. It's got heart, heat, and an HEA sure to make you swoon. It is the first standalone in the Better Love series.

©2021 Brit Benson Books (P)2023 Brit Benson Books

Great debut novel

This was an excellent debut novel. I liked Ivy but adored Kelly. I love friends to lovers and this was well done. The narrators were phenomenal! I can’t wait to listen to more from both narrators!

Mountain Lion of Greatness

I fell in love the first time I read it with my eyes.
I didn't imagine I could love it more...
That was until I read it with my ears.
Kelli and Joe did such an incredible job bring Kelley and Ivy to life.
I couldn't have imagined how great this turned out in audio.
This audio brought me to tears on more than one occasion.
Kelli, Joe, thank you so much for doing Brit's words justice. I had very high hopes and set my standards high, and you guys blew them out of the water.
Brit, I am so proud of the work you do and the words you write. Thank YOU for choosing these incredible narrators to bring your babies to life. <3

I’m now a fan!

I enjoyed this book very much (even though new adult romances usually give me anxiety!). The performances are stunning. The story is solid. The twist is twisty!

Love!

Great story made even better by excellent narrating! Joe and Kelli killed it!!
Bravo!!
Cannot wait to listen to the rest of this series!

Best friends to lovers

🅻🅾🆅🅴 🆈🅾🆄 🅱🅴🆃🆃🅴🆁 by Brit Benson is a best friends to lovers story with Kelley Pierce and Ivy Rivenbach.
Kelley is the dirty talking bedroom, love whipped best friend who is an absolute patient, sweetheart guy. Ivy is a fierce, smart, cautious female. These two characters and this book possesses beautifully woven words by Brit to make their love story flawlessly done and my heart ached for both Ivy and Kelley throughout the book.

Joe Arden and Kelli Tager do such a fantastic job of being these characters and their love story to life. I’m so ready to move onto the next audio book in this series ‘Better with You’ showcasing Ivy’s roommate and friend, Bailey.

Loved this friends to lovers romance!

Swoon! Love You Better by Brit Benson was an angsty new adult best-friends-to-lovers romance that tugged at all my heartstrings, and left my soul deliciously happy. This was my first book from Brit Benson, and it most certainly won’t be my last. I loved everything about Ivy and Kelley’s slow-burn, steamy, and emotional journey from friends to their forever HEA.

Kelli Tager and Joe Arden narrate this audiobook, and both truly embodied their characters to the fullest! Kelli was a new-to-me narrator, and I loved how she portrayed Ivy’s painful past, dedication to her family, and her newfound love for Kelley! (All the feels!) Joe delivers a moving performance as devoted, doting, and loveable Kelley! Plus, he brought all the swoon with his delivery of Kelley’s seductive spicy scenes! (Hello, dirty talk!) Both narrators brought the heat with Ivy and Kelley’s magnetic, meant-to-be chemistry!

Overall, I loved this book! If you are a fan of a best friends-to-lovers romance with a hunky dedicated teacher in training, a bold, fierce lawyer-to-be, college life at Butler University, a friendship that started in high school, a traumatic event from the past, reliable besties, movie nights, soccer matches, lunch buddies, slow burn steamy times, a little bit of angst, a shocking climatic moment, and a HEA that you will love better and better, then you will love Ivy and Kelley’s story. I am looking forward to more from Brit Benson.

5 Star Friends-Lovers Story! 5 Star Performances!

I absolutely could not put this audiobook down! It was a beautiful story about two best friends since high school, where he fell hard and fast, but she couldn't see it yet. Now at the end of college, their friendship starts to change into so much more. Kelley is an amazing best friend who loves Ivy unconditionally.

Kelli Tager is a new narrator to me, and I enjoyed her performance very much. She gave a lot of emotion that felt connected to the work. I also really enjoyed her male voice- it wasn't too deep and didn't sound forced/fake. Joe Arden was fantastic. He always gives an emotional performance that feels real and raw. He also did an incredible job with changing his voice just enough to fit the very young characters in the flashbacks.

I will absolutely pick up more books by this author and audiobooks narrated by these actors.

5 Stars / 3 Peppers (even though it is a very slow burn and doesn't have many spicy scenes- the dirty talk is pretty intense).

TW- The listener knows that there is history of sexual assault that happens to Ivy, but we don't know when or how for most of the story.

Breathtaking friends-to-lovers romance!

𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘉𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳, was a breathtaking, sweet, and emotional take on best friends to lovers that I’ve listened to in quite some time. It was a heartfelt story overflowing with chemistry, tension, banter, forgiveness, healing, and trusting to take that leap of faith to see where it leads. Brit delivered this trope with sheer perfection! I dove into the audiobook and listened straight through. I could not get enough of Ivy and Kelley and their deep bond and connection that matured over the years.

𝑰’𝒎 𝒂 𝒅𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒚 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒅𝒂𝒎𝒏. 𝑰’𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒐𝒇𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑰𝒗𝒚, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰’𝒎 𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒔𝒉𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒏𝒐𝒘.

Kelley is what book boyfriends are made of! The way he was head over heels in love with his best friend from the second they met at fourteen and the loyalty he had for her was chef’s kiss. He was the sweetest, kindest, most passionate, understanding cinnamon roll hero with the perfect edge and dirty mouth to boot. I was swooning over him in pretty much every chapter and could not stop smiling at all his feelings that we got to see from his POV.

“𝑰’𝒎 𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆,” 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒂 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕. “𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒑𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒊𝒛𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒋𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒚 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆,” 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒚 𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒍𝒚. “𝑨𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰’𝒎 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒖𝒑.”

Ivy was such a fierce, strong, confident, and even at times vulnerable heroine. She knows who she is, what she wants, and pushes through to get it. After experiencing a traumatic event at the end of senior year of high school, she disappeared for 15 months. When she reemerges and becomes reacquainted with Kelley, their friendship picks back up where it left off. But Ivy still holds her dark secret close to her heart. Kelley eventually breaks down her walls, and when she opens up to him, it not only strengthens their relationship it pushes it to a whole new level.

Brit does a phenomenal job of keeping the reader hooked through this deliciously sweet slow burn. The flashbacks she provides were brilliantly executed and flowed perfectly within the story to allow the reader to grasp a deep understanding of these two characters. She showed us the important moments in their budding friendship and how it crossed over to a loving relationship with their strong foundation. Brit put so much care and love into every word and sentence when telling this story that I devoured it and wish that it never ended.

Joe Arden and Kelli Tager were phenomenal in voicing Kelley and Ivy. They way in which they brought these characters to life was otherworldly. Their narration was so astounding that I listened through the entire book in one day!

This is my first time hearing Kelli, and she absolutely blew me away. The talent she portrayed throughout this entire book had me enraptured the entire time. She did a phenomenal job in giving the listener the strong and vulnerable side of Ivy while also showing us her sweet and sassy side. I also could not get enough of her as Bailey. She had me cracking up so much with her witty banter, and I hope we get to hear more from her in the next books! I was also extremely impressed with her male voice. It can always be a hit or miss when a female voices the male characters in a book but let me just say you don’t even realize it's her, that is how talented she is in her performance!

Joe once again gave an exceptional performance! He was absolutely marvelous in voicing Kelley and those oh so swoony moments, as well as those oh so dirty moments throughout the story. I mean, we all know Joe is the king when it comes to those sexy scenes, but I’m always a sucker for those emotional ones. And Joe left me a mess a couple of times in this book. The uncanny ability he has with connecting to a character on such a deep and emotional level and the ability he has to bring those emotions occurring in the scene to life is out of this world! Joe’s technique of pulling in the listener and having them on the same rollercoaster of emotions as the character is ethereal.

The steamy new adult friends to lovers romance you’ve been needing!!

Seriously… to hear Ivy & Kelley’s story is just pure magic. If I could give this story 10 stars I would. This steamy, new adult, college best friends to lovers romance is 100/10 amazing and I can’t recommend enough!! Do yourself a favor, and give this story a listen!

Love a good friends to lovers

This was a beautifully written best friends to lovers story, with angsty and slow burning…the tension between the two is palpable. The narration was amazing by both Joe and Kelli, their performance was beautiful and brought the story to life!